Sheffield star Paul Heaton back with new album

Jon Ball

Sheffield favourite Paul Heaton is back with a new single with long-time music partner Jacqui Abbott.

Former Beautiful South and The Housemartins star Paul – a big Sheffield United fan after growing up in the city – linked up with former Beautiful South singer Jacqui in 2013, with their album What Have We Become? a top-three hit.

Their second album, 2015’s Wisdom, Laughter and Lines, reached number two and now they are back with a third album – Crooked Calypso is released on Friday, July 21.

And ahead of Crooked Calypso, they have released single I Gotta Praise, a “love song dressed up as a euphoric secular Gospel anthem” and billed as “one hell of a calling card for the new album”.

The video for I Gotta Praise, filmed in Scarborough’s old Victorian gaol, pays homage to hit TV show Orange is the New Black.

Jacqui, who sang with Beautiful South from 1994 to 2000, plays an inmate in a women’s prison, while Paul, who founded the band with fellow Housemartin Dave Hemingway in 1998, plays a visiting pastor, providing music lessons for the convicts among cryptic references to some of Paul’s past hits.

Tour dates in support of the album are due to be announced on Friday, June 30.